Mental Health Notes

To submit news for Mental Health Notes, send complete details to news@ontario.cmha.ca. Submissions may be edited for publication. All submissions are subject to approval, and CMHA Ontario reserves the right to refuse any submission at its sole discretion.

Mental health is a key priority for Legal Aid Ontario, including the development of a mental health strategy that will strengthen the capacity of lawyers, front-line workers and management to improve services for people living with mental health issues.

A Hamilton-Wentworth (HW) Corrections – Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) Working Group that was created last October out of the Hamilton Local Human Services and Justice Coordinating Committee have been busy analysing and following up on results from a recent pilot project.

The Canadian Mental Health Association Grey Bruce Branch has a big reason to celebrate this year. The organization is marking 50 years of serving individuals and their families in Grey and Bruce counties area.

One of the first measures of the new Liberal Government in Ontario was to re-release its 2014-2015 budget, Building Opportunity, Securing Our Future. CMHA Ontario has provided the following budget breakdown that may be of use for mental health and addictions organizations.

The Government of Ontario’s Budget for 2014 acknowledges that “there are 1.65 million people in Ontario who have a physical, mental, sensory or learning disability, 63 per cent of whom are aged 15 to 64 — the cohort most likely to be participating in the labour force.”

To support dialogue and discussion among organizations serving people with mental illnesses, Canadian Mental Health Association, Ontario hosts CMHA Connects which is a multisite network designed to support collaboration and knowledge sharing.

Toronto City Council has decided to examine the feasibility of providing more support for the needs of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans-People Queer (LGBTQ) community, after a 2013 survey indicated that 21 per cent of people in youth shelters identify as belonging to a sexual minority.